The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-02-13

was that OF the new president of the alumnae I
Mrs. Frances Fisher Wood in which |
she discussed the problem, Does the college I'M |
fit women for society," This she called the latest
of civilization to the woman, but she |
might better have called it the latest question |
which the overanxious girl has devised to tor |
ment herself with If society and education can't
agree. much the worse for society. The bet |
ter the training, the richer the wealth of knowl
edge and experience, the stronger the influence |
given and received. And this nobody would !
seriously dispute in spite OF the fact. over |
which the graduate grieves more than she has
occasion, that the newspaper humorist clings |
with tenacious grip to his stock of jess and still
regards it as comical thing for a girl to aspire
to the sciences.
The Womens Conference of the city of New
York represents one of the most hopeful of the
philanthropic movements of the day. So much
of the charity of big city is wasted for lack of
organization, for lack of understanding of the
real wants of its recipients. for lack of practi
cal business training on the part of women who
have come in great part to dispense it, that an
arrangement which calls together the clear
headed and warm hearted women of q MUM
cipalty at regular intervals to discuss social
problems is one of the great desiGerata Of
the day. The Womens Conference has
held its sessions this winter monthly, and at
the meeting which I attended last week
nearly three hundred ladies were present Miss
Grace 81. Dodge our new school commissioner,
presided and Mrs Charles r. Lowell, of the
State Board of Charities, and Miss hinton, of
the State Charities Aid Association, discussed
the wants and the prospects of the 20. 900 de-
pendent children in the asylums and institutions
of the city. What interested me especially,
more than any information given any topic
introduced, was the spirit of the gathering,
which was that of honest, intelligent inquiry.
The function of the conference, as lady said to
me at its close. is TO serve as ralying point for
thinking women. Thought awakeners. call
ourselves she said, and shall be surprised if
the thinking does not bear good fruit.
Society ate, drank, and was merry at an I'M
usually elaborate dinner one night last week.
The cloth was of cream white silk edged with
lace scarf of deep crimson plush, with
golden fringe ran down the middle of the table
Six branching golden stands held candles, with
shades of every soft deep tint of decorated glass
The china was exquisite. the silver was a family
fortune in itself, the favors had taxed the in
genuity and the resources of the iegeler. the
servitors were defthanded. and the courses were
enlivened by music from an orchestra concealed
behind palms and dollhouse flowers. Lilies Of
the valley foated in the finger. bowls. There
were women hired to sing and women hired to
read poetry. There were enormous bouquets
for the guests to take home with them. The
arithmetician of the party ciphered out its cost
at '$1 800 If it was cent" And on my walk
about the city the morning after it took place
saw woman int he little yard of a rear tenement
splitting wood. She was breaking up her child's
rocking-horse because she could not buy coal
The religious papers are taking up what some
of them call the ''cooking-stove apostasy." The
point of their complaint seems to be that the
caterer is gaining ground at the church sociable,
and, like the political parties. they call on the
country to view with alarm" q ministry OF
thwAA I'd 90 A~A ~
cooks the last in white vestments manipulating
the ritual of pies and cakes. Well, good breth-
rem, and why nots Did you ever view with
alarm the flushed faces Of the sisters of the
church who have wearied themselves out from
time immemorial bent their backs and risked
their tempers preparing the simple meal flor
whose restoration you clamora' If the caterer,
with his white vest and white gloves, can relieve
some measure of fatigue and worry on the part
Of the feminine portion of the congregation, the
church social will serve a better end than it ever
has before.
The Chicago Woman's Club makes PROPOSE
ton of interest to all similar clubs throughout
the country. For the sake of co-ordnating
women's organizations it proposes to constitute
itself bureau of Information to collect Stats
tics of men'sCubs in every State. promising
to send out early In the spring as practicable
| tabulated lists of all womens organizations,
which will be- it is thought of considerable value
| women are every day taking up. 1t regards this
| as preliminary STEP looking to the association
| of all womens societies the United States in
| one representative body as thoroughly organized
| as the W. z. 7. u and possessing the strength
aud afording the conditions for effective phllan-
| thropic and reformatory work.
| Maud Howe, Mrs. Julia Ward Howes only
surviving daughter, who became the wife of Mr..
Joar Elliot at Boston on Monday of this week
has many friends among the women of the coun-
| try for her own sake as we'll as her mothers
| One of the most notable pictures at the Centen
| NAL exhibition was portrait by Porter of a
rarely beautiful, fair haired girl dressed in white
| This was Maud Howe. and when subsequently
her novels, THE San Rosario Ranch" "A New
| port Aquarelle" and ATLANTA in the South, were
one after another offered to the public her face
had already secured her a kindly hearing. Miss
Howe accompanied her mother a tour ir
| Egypt in 1878, and was her right hand woman al
| the New Orleans exhibition.
Women tricyclists are multiplying and som,
of the records they made last summer on tn,
| wheel indicate that the gospel Of good health j
making progress indeed. Cycling informs it,
| readers that Mrs. j. w. Smith, of Orange, N
j., wheeled 2,643 miles in 1886. OF this distanc
2 228 miles we're covered on a tandem with he
husband, and Ais miles were wheeled off on
single Other records have crept into print o
as high as 200 miles registered by the cyclomete
on tandem tricycle. in single day, all of whcl
points to the fact that good, firm muscles ar
not nowadays things of which woman feel
called upon to be ashamed. and promises yet bet
ter results in future.
There is nothing in art, science literature
Miss Parloa tells her cooking classes, that yo,
can't put to practical use in the kitchen TIL
more cultivated the intelligence the better re
suits it will produce anywhere.
Why can't the Empress of Japan and he
court ladies let excellently well alone2 TIL
wife of the Mikado is putting on European dress
t it seems, though why any reasonable being use
. | to the comfort and freedom of loose flown